Worked for one year, then broke

(Kameron Cole) #1

Mine is a success story gone bad. Almost exactly one year ago I started keto. It was classic - lost the first 6 pounds in a couple of weeks, then kept peeling it off for a month until I lost 15 pounds. That was where the magic stopped but I was happy. Throughout the year I went on vacations, got though Thanksgiving - in short, passed through dangerous seas but still stayed right where I wanted to be. Until one month ago. All of a sudden I just started putting pounds back on - starting at one pound a week, but the one pound a day. Like a nightmare. And as far as I can see I am doing nothing different !

I am very active - I start each day with 90 minutes of Ashtanga yoga. To that I add ice skating, skateboarding and 2 walks at 30 minutes per day.

When I started to put the weight back on I increased my walks and skateboarding. It just got worse.

Baffled. Really I just don’t get it.

I have only 3 guesses - depression. My job got a lot harder. I found keto ramen with 4 grams of net carbs. Started eating those every day. Got some keto protein power, only 2g carbs. That’s it. Otherwise I continued a pretty strict carb diet of only 8g per day.

I’ve quit the ramen and the powder. Haven’t weighed myself for 2 weeks so I don’t know if there was progress. I assumed it would take at least 2 weeks to get back.

Again what was my crime?

(Allie) #2

How much are you eating overall?

(Joey) #3

@kc0olm Kameron - Welcome to the forum!

There may be a range of possibilities to address your question, but in order to provide proper context and meaningful replies, many of us would need to know a few more details, such as…

  • What was your primary motivation/goal for cutting our carbs in the first place? The answer can be quite relevant to what’s going on.

  • Do you notice any change in your waistline measurement (how are your clothes fitting recently?) in contrast to simply whatever the scale is reporting?

  • Not meaning to get too personal, but since Kameron is a somewhat gender-neutral name, if you are a woman, might there be hormonal changes involved?

  • Yes, sleep disruptions and depression can definitely produce stress and hormonal response. But I suspect it’s unlikely to be the only factor at play.

  • Ramen noodles sound highly suspect to me … if they are really low carb, well, I guess we can rule that out as a factor. But it’s possible you’ve been duped by a manufacturer?

  • Most importantly, how are you feeling? Putting aside the job stress, do you otherwise notice any changes in physically/mental energy level or perhaps other issues that either came or left since going keto last year?

Some of these replies will help shape insights that could be offered by many folks on the forum.

Best wishes!

(Shannon) #4

I would take a look at how many calories you are getting as well. If you’ve increased your activity, but your calories are too low, your body might be thinking its in starvation mode and keeping your fat around (at least, that’s what I understand from many in this forum). I am also about a year and a half in with keto, and I’m very active with exercise. I’ve up’d my calories from about 1800 to 2300 in the last 4 weeks or so, and I’ve seen the scale go down a bit.

(Peter - Don't Fear the Fat ) #5

Ramen are Typically 27g a packet. Unless they are Konjac, but I doubt they are because Konjac are usually fine noodles.

#6

Were you tracking what you ate at any given time? If not, sounds like you just lost the standard extra water weight from glycogen being depleted and nothing else.

#7

I’m not sure about depression, but that can mean stress too, with raised cortisol levels…which can interact negatively with what you are trying to achieve:

What are symptoms of high cortisol levels?

Lower Your Cortisol Levels | High Cortisol Symptoms | Everlywell

Common Symptoms of High Cortisol Levels

  • Rapid weight gain mainly in the face, chest, and abdomen.
  • A flushed and round face.
  • High blood pressure.
  • Osteoporosis.
  • Skin changes (such as bruises and purple stretch marks)
  • Muscle weakness.
  • Anxiety, depression, or irritability.
  • Increased thirst and frequent urination.
#8

To put your mind at rest, and progress recovery, you may want to test.

"How do I have my cortisol levels checked?

A cortisol test often uses a sample of blood drawn at a lab. But the test may also be done on urine or saliva collected at home . Normally, cortisol levels vary during the day, so your provider may order more than one type of test to get more information about your cortisol levels."

(Rossi Luo) #9

It’s the first time I heard someone getting back weight on Keto diet, I believe most of the people will doubt if your foods are really Ketogenic foods. To help you find the cause, I think you’d better to take pictures of all your foods (and the labels of the food package) every day and upload them here, then maybe we can find some clues.

(Robin) #10

Welcome to the forum. we love a good mystery, though I’m terribly sorry you are going through this, especially after so much success.

Can you give us your age, weight, and how many calories you consume each day? That sometimes helps.

Also you said the “net” carb grams on your ramen. What would they be if you counted them all? Just curious.

I agree with sharing photos of foods you eat regularly, with the info/labels. Hopefully most of your food is real food, not processed.
Sometimes processed foods that use the word Keto actually sneak in sugars under other names.

I hope you find some answers here.
We’ll sure try after more info from you.

#11

Not a crime! Just a conundrum.

Well, you’ve quit the Ramen (good) and powder (probably good)…so maybe try back to basics whole foods Keto? I think that will also help with your stress.

Take up home cooking and forget about work when you aren’t there? (Says me, ha. Easier said than done.)

Well, give it a try. Plenty of sunlight and a walk outside everyday.
Just for a start until you figure out if there is anything else going on.

#12

I heard about it a few times. Of course one can gain on keto too, normal people respond with that if they overeat. Fat can get stored as fat, nothing strange about that. It may skip some people but not everyone, far from it. Most people probably don’t know as they simply don’t easily overeat on keto.

This isn’t about obvious overeating, just saying, it’s possible to gain fat on keto, even quickly.

But no one ever could create fat tissue without eating the required energy. Very quick fat gain, if possible, requires extreme overeating (even then, it’s unlikely, people tried that).
I only heard about quick fat gain on keto when one ate an excessive amount of fat (without hunger as far as I know, just to get a high fat/protein ratio).
But 1 pound a day, that probably can’t be fat, no matter what.

I can’t say more, there is obviously something to figure it out as something is wrong, it’s just about the super quick gain, it’s very much impossible for everyone especially without extreme overeating unless it’s just water.

I ask what others, how much do you eat, @kc0olm? Do you track macros? I would do that for a while, maybe it will be informative…? If you eat like before, maybe not much but it’s a very odd situation and macros are information we can get moderately easily (unless one eats items with unknown macros). And weigh yourself again, maybe it got better? What about your clothes?

Agree.

(Allie) #13

If you stress your body too much with exercise the cortisol reaction will stop you losing fat and will very likely increase the fat stored on your body. This combined with, I suspect, inadequate calories for the activity level you’re at is probably your issue.

My advice would be to actually decrease your activity levels and focus more on rest and recovery.

(Marianne) #14

How do your clothes fit? Are you in the same size or has that gone up? If those things are the same, I wouldn’t worry about a number on the scale.

I don’t know what you are eating, however, maybe if you aren’t eating enough with your exercise load, your metabolism may have slowed to conserve calories. Hope you get to the bottom of this.

(Chuck) #15

You may not have done anything wrong, you may have just had the change of life, or some other hormone changes. But I don’t think the ramen noodles are a good idea. But then again I don’t do keto, I do moderately low carb and fast an average of 19 hours each day of the week. I also don’t eat highly processed or refined foods, which is my label for any type of noodles, or bread or cereal. I stick to real foods, meat, vegetables and some fruit.
Over the last 13 years I have tried everything to lose the weight and keep it off and to feel good and healthy at the same time. What I am doing now has finally met every check box.

(Edith) #16

Yeah, I’m not really sure the net carbs idea truly works. I think it is really better just to think about total carbs.

You mentioned depression. Are you taking any medication for it? If so, it could be the medication causing weight gain.

Also, like mentioned above, it is possible to stress your body from too much activity. I mentioned this on another thread, but I started doing very high intensity exercise several times a week about a year ago. It was really fun, but I don’t think my body liked it very much. I started putting on weight around my mid-section. I believe the high intensity exercise increased my cortisol levels which caused me to start putting on the weight.

(Chuck) #17

Stress is known to cause a hormone imbalance that will cause you to put on belly fat. Also so many prescription drugs cause weight gain and depression drugs seem to be the worse.
I have also read that you can over stress your body with exercise and it will cause the added belly fat. Which normally just the opposite of what you are trying to achieve.

#18

Cole, why didn’t you weigh yourself for the last 2 weeks without the processed food mate? I think this could be the answer. Also with me it’s sometimes whether the food is processed. Don’t agree with most dairy but it’s Keto (hard cheese especially).

(KCKO, KCFO) #19

Welcome to the forums.

No crime in gaining a tad bit back .Please limit the negativity and remember no road is a line.

After 5 yrs. of success during the pandamic I put on 10 lbs, eating exactly the same foods as I had eaten for the last almost 6 yrs.(took me a year to lose my weight). Now without the stress of covid and some family issues that also came up. I am back down to my goal weight and am evening slipping under it a lot of weeks.

Pay attention to your clothes. When I put on the weight my clothes all fit ok.

There is a lot of drs. who think you can do too much exercise that it can hamper your efforts as well I cut down my walking to 2x days instead of 3 when trying to lose the 10 lbs.

The other thing that helped me lose again was mixing up my eating times. 2 meals early in the day, doing 1MAD occasionally, 3 meals but lighter, mostly just protein.

As for the sleep, I have ongoing issues with that, sometimes I get just enough, but most nights I do wake up for an hr or two. Recently I started taking mint tea with Apple Cider Vinegar & lemon juice right before bed, and that seems to be extending my sleep window. There are also some gentle yoga posses that help with sleep issues, might try some of those as well

Wishing you all the best on sorting yourself out.

#20

I suspect you may not be eating enough.

Why have you not weighed yourself? Keep a food journal. What has changed? Does not sound like you had a lot of weight to lose? Have you tried fasting? Do you measure your blood ketones? Has your belt hole changed? Eat a bigger breakfast with high protein amounts and some carbs 1-2x per week to offset regain during active fat loss.